Just got up to date in Zodiac. It was...alright. An interesting, and detailed universe with some amazing snippets we get from all the other characters. Both within the story, as well as the short bits before each chapter. Blake's backstory over the past few chapters on the other hand, has been fantastic.

But not really being enjoying reading most of Jaune's story all that much. Reads like a semi-crack harem fic most of the time, and I don't find myself particularly interested in reading his interaction with most people (Except maybe Miltia, Penny and Ruby - the first being very intriguing, and the latter two just being funny). I think its the way he makes friends too easily, which diminishes them.

 

From what I've read so far, everything written by xT-Zealot is a solid rec. Liked every one of his stories so far. The one shots worked all as intended, ranging from interesting, to adorable and to funny and his longer stories are solid all around.

 

Got two stories for ya. Both stories have yet to get farther than the initiation but so far they've shown their quality. Seems to me that most fics in this fandom lack an overarching storyline. Guess it comes with the territory.

Jaune Arc Hero of Vytal A Ciaphas Cain inspired story so I think that'll speaks for itself.

Auburn

 

The gentle art of making enemies.

Rating: M - NC-17

Pairing: Uh. Pretty sure it'll be a sort of foursome of team RWBY.

Summary: There really isn't a whole bunch of plot to this. There's some, sure, but it really only serves to keep the character development going. Nothing really epic. The author has a fantastic grasp of each of the characters, though, which makes it work. It's a nice time-sink that I'd probably put closer to the guilty pleasure category.

Not sure if it's worthy library material, but I am enjoying reading it.


http://archiveofourown.org/works/1899840/chapters/4095537

 

Yeah, recc'd it earlier in this thread. One of the more enjoyable RWBY fics I've read, so good to see it's getting a bit more attention! That, and it's complete. Definitely not library material though. Can't make up its mind whether its serious or crack.

Also tried Auburn recently. Quite enjoyable, but still very much early stages of the plot. Don't find myself Jaune's placement on the team awkward at all. Even though he replaced Blake on the team, feels like he's taken the Ruby's role. Very interested to see where they go with the whole

JauneBlake has a really similar vibe to canon's JaunePyrrha, except a lot more interesting (probably because Blake is a lot more interesting).

 

I liked Auburn well enough but I have to say, I couldn't quite get over the dismissal of Yang in favour of Jaune. I just like her way more and find her more interesting than I do Jaune but except for that, story does seem interesting so far, but it has the potential to go south rather easily if the whole super school thing isn't handled carefully.

Just seems a bit superfluous to have a second, even more elite, more dangerous school in such a dangerous location that should have made building it there such a costly effort for relatively little gain that no one should have considered it. So, have to see if that is really all there is to it and how it is going to play out.

Coincidentally, I did reread The Gentle Art of Making enemies a few days ago and I enjoyed it as much the second time around as I did the first. Weiss' father really is a great character an was interesting to behold, even though I still argue that

Spoiler

disinheriting Weiss was a dumb move if the legacy of the family was so important. Better than leaving it in the hands of the cousin who both, father and daughter acknowledged to be a moron, especially a racist moron who is inevitably going to make a mess somewhere along the line. Dunno, just seems a bit shortsighted for a man who prides himself to be utterly pragmatic in other ways, then again, he has his flaws, plenty of them

But yeah, the other great part is the interaction between the girlsand how their characters really feels organic and true to them, even in this odd poly relationship, which is the second time I have seen this pulled off convincingly in fiction.

Sure, plot is not really worth mentioning but everything else in the story was strong enough that I didn't mind one bit and it's not like it was terrible. Still decent enough and I suspect that the fic was pretty close with how it handled the Grimm and Cinder.

 

While I don't mind Jaune as a character, I can't stand him as the focus of a fic.

 

Hmm, okay, not quite sure about the next fic. I liked it well enough, no, I really enjoyed it. However, it is also a story that I have read in the timespan between 1 AM and 4 AM, so, not quite confident in my ability to judge quality while I am in a reading rush at that hour. At the very least, I do believe it is well worth reading.

Four Deadly Secrets by OneirosTheWriter

The summary makes the story seem worse than it is, which is why I avoided it for long, summary and title both, actually. However, it paints the RWBY world, the characters, their personalities and their pasts in a really interesting light.

For example, what really struck me was the exploration of the dichotomy that I have seen ignored in almost all RWBY fics, with the character of Ruby herself.

On one hand, yes, the story portrays her a lot like she is shown, a enthusiastic, cute girl who loves weapons, likes being silly at times, loves sweet things and is friendly with people. On the other hand, it is the same girl, who, from all the weapons in the world, chose to make a High Calibre Sniper Scythe, one of the potentially deadliest weapons I have seen in fiction, a weapon that can reap lives from afar and in close combat.

It does explore what kind of person would really be drawn to a weapon like this, especially someone who enters a combat academy for hunting monsters and abominations two years before anyone else and is very well able to keep up with the others, easily pulling ahead of many at the same time.

The same, really, is done with a lot of the characters, given darker interpretations of their pasts, with secrets, shady, unethical, misguided things they did and now having to deal with them being potentially exposed by a new team, which consists of the twins of Junior's bar, Velvet and an OC. That makes for some interesting conflict, especially since the story takes the quite daring approach of casting team RWBY in not a saintly light. They are fucking scary, if one thinks about it, each member for different reasons and a lot of times, that new team has good reason to be wary and antagonistic.

Spoiler

However, and this is to the stories detriment, I think, I was unable to sympathize as much with the new team as the writer would have liked, thinking it more than a bit hypocritical from them to judge team RWBY for their past like that, when the only reason they know about it is since they were at the same locations for similar reasons. And I have little sympathy for people trying to antagonize other people when they know that they are stronger, that's just dumb. Bullying the dragon, was the trope, I believe.

Not that I don't understand the motivations behind it, or why the twins at least feel like they have to do what they are doing but still, could have had an easier time by just pretending to not be sore instead of all that honesty stuff. Like, okay, you don't need to be a sycophant but maybe don't antagonize the girl with the deadly sniper scythe who nearly killed you and has a sister who has kicked your ass and that of your twin and that of your boss and all of his 30 henchmen all at the same time while not even trying all that hard. Or don't antagonize the immeasurably wealthy girl who is in the same team as those two monsters and while may not strike in the same weight class as those two do, is still relatively close in the same ballpark.

That, and the very nature of this story also means it is slightly mean spirited with a lot of dark backstories, people being stressed because their secret may be revealed and characters manipulating each other with lies, veiled threats and blackmail and being pretty cruel to each other in order to not show weakness and capitalize the openings of the others. That can get a bit much after a while.

Writing is solid, and other than the darker twists, it is really accurate to the characters, portraying Teams RBWY and JNPR and lately, the faction of Cinder really well. Especially Roman stood out to me.

So, yeah, definitely one of the better RWBY stories I've read, and seeing that the last update was around Christmas, don't think this is abandoned.

4/5

 

When it says in an anime fanfic that a girl has a dark secret, I'm always going to run away screaming, thinking it's a penis.

 

Hence why I wrote a bunch of words afterwards explaining that the summary is misleading. ^^

 

For which I am very grateful. xD

 

Some entertaining crack and a hilarious idea.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10898868/1/Professor-Arc

 

It's not going to enter the annals of story telling history or anything, or even the DLP library, but it is surprisingly fun so far. Then again, the true test of this story is retaining is humour without wearing the same jokes out or getting more silly than the story can handle.

So, tentatively followed for now.

And goddammit, now I ship GlyndArc xD Even if it was set up in a really, really, really clichéd manner. Even if this is really shaping up to be more generic harem-y romance. But somehow, the humour worked.

 

Yeah, it's decidedly average, but funny, and that's what counts sometimes. Good, and short for now.

 

/co/ is making me ship Ruby/Neo while Remnant's Reclaimer is making me ship Ruby/Glynda

 

Where did you find Ruby/Neo? GIVE.

 

I quit Remnant's Reclaimer after chapter 2, is it getting any better?

 

Ruby is very powerful. It's difficult to say if it's in Mary Sue territory or not because we really don't know the upper limit for a huntress' power yet. I guess its not because the author also made Glynda, Qrow and Ruby's dad just as powerful while it's implied Cinder is also just as powerful.

It's not library worthy but I enjoy it. What didn't you like about it?

---------- Post automerged at 23:18 ---------- Previous post was at 23:18 ----------

It's mostly fanart over on /co/. Never read a fic featuring it yet.

 

Yeah... I looked for fanart. I didn't find stuff with Neo, but I found some stuff. Oh God did I find some stuff. -Runs off for the brain bleach.-